Surprise, surprise. Workers in Britain, many of whom have seen a decline in
their standard of living while the very rich in their country have
become much richer, have turned their backs on the European Union and
a globalized economy that is failing them and their children.

And it’s not just the British who are suffering. That increasingly
globalized economy, established and maintained by the world’s
economic elite, is failing people everywhere. Incredibly,the wealthiest 62 people on this planet own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population — around 3.6 billion people. The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the whole of the bottom 99 percent. The very, very rich enjoy unimaginable luxury while billions of people endure abject poverty, unemployment, and inadequate health care, education, housing and drinking water.

Could this rejection of the current form of the global economy happen in
the United States? You bet it could.

During
my campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, I’ve
visited 46 states. What I saw and heard on too many occasions were
painful realities that the political and media establishment fail
even to recognize.

In
the last 15 years, nearly 60,000 factories in this country have
closed, and more
than 4.8 million well-paid
manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Much of this is related to
disastrous trade agreements that encourage corporations to move to
low-wage countries.

Despite major increases in productivity, the
the median male worker in America today is making $726 dollars less than he did in 1973, while the median female worker is making $1,154 less than she did in 2007, after adjusting for inflation.

Nearly 47 million Americans live in poverty. An estimated 28 million have no health insurance, while many others are underinsured. Millions of people are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt. For perhaps the first time in modern history, our younger generation will probably have a lower standard of living than their parents. Frighteningly, millions of poorly educated Americans will have a shorter life span than the previous generation as they succumb to despair, drugs and alcohol.

Meanwhile, in our country the top one-tenth of 1 percent now owns almost as much
wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Fifty-eight percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. Wall Street and
billionaires, through their "super PACs,“ are able to buy elections.

On my campaign, I’ve talked to workers unable to make it on $8 or $9 an hour; retirees struggling to purchase the medicine they need on $9,000 a year of Social Security; young people unable to afford college. I also visited the American
citizens of Puerto Rico, where some 58 percent of the children live in poverty and only a little more than 40 percent of the adult population has a job or is seeking one.

Let’s
be clear. The global economy is not working for the majority of
people in our country and the world. This is an economic model
developed by the economic elite to benefit the economic elite. We
need real change.

But
we do not need change based on the demagogy, bigotry and
anti-immigrant sentiment that punctuated so much of the Leave
campaign’s rhetoric — and is central to Donald
J. Trump’s message.

We need a president who will vigorously support international
cooperation that brings the people of the world closer together,
reduces hypernationalism and decreases the possibility of war. We
also need a president who respects the democratic rights of the
people, and who will fight for an economy that protects the interests
of working people, not just Wall Street, the drug companies and other
powerful special interests.

We
need to fundamentally reject our “free trade” policies and move
to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers
in low-wage counties who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop
sustainable economic models.
We
need to end the international scandal in which large corporations and
the wealthy avoid paying trillions of dollars in taxes to their
national governments.

We
need to create tens of millions of jobs worldwide by combating
global climate
change and
by transforming the world’s energy system away from fossil fuels.

We
need international efforts to cut military spending around the globe
and address the causes of war: poverty, hatred, hopelessness and
ignorance.

The
notion that Donald Trump could benefit from the same forces that gave
the Leave proponents a majority in Britain should sound an alarm for
the Democratic Party in the United States. Millions of American
voters, like the Leave supporters, are understandably angry and
frustrated by the economic forces that are destroying the middle
class.

In
this pivotal moment, the Democratic Party and a new Democratic
president need to make clear that we stand with those who are
struggling and who have been left behind. We must create national and
global economies that work for all, and not a handful of
billionaires.

Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, is a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination.

Source: The New York Times.

*************

JG: Poor, poor United States! The forces of worldwide capitalism and globalization have totally destroyed what used to be a great nation. The worst is yet to come. People screwing people! Capitalism in just three words.

Monday, June 27, 2016

The problem is that you have to have at least 176 votes in the House of Deputies to form a working national government. It is formally called the Investiture of the New Prime Minister.

For six months from the election date of 20 December 2015, to the second election of 26 June 2016, these four parties COULD NOT AGREE ON ANYTHING.
The first party is right-wing, the next two parties are leftist and the third party is centrist.

The Kingdom of Spain is UNGOVERNABLE! That is the same thing that happened before the start of the Spanish Civil War of 1936. The Franco dictatorship followed.

It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few months.

OK. Can they agree on this?

For the next six months we will throw rotten eggs and tomatoes toward each other and then we will call a third election, if we can not agree on who has the most stains on their clothes.

The group that has the most stains on their clothes will be the NEW GOVERNMENT.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Another solution: The last three parties form the new government (188 votes) and take the members of the first party (the loser) to a whore-house dinner with "the girls."

American Airlines is now taking reservations and selling regularly scheduled flights between Miami International Airport and five Cuban cities to start in September for less than $300 round-trip, including taxes.

But the cheaper rates come with caveats, including final approval from the Cuban government for American’s new commercial flights to the island.

If all goes as planned, regularly scheduled flights to Cienfuegos and Holguín will take off from MIA on Sept. 7.

JG: This is not very good.

My family is in Havana and not in Cienfuegos and Holguín.

It looks to me that this is just another excuse to charge you $600 to fly to Cuba. Very convenient for the capitalist marketers, not very good for my pocket.

The PSOE would be entering into a pact with the devil if it accepts to participate in a government headed by Mariano Rajoy. The Socialists would be betraying the true interests of the Spanish working class.

The only progressive party that won seats is Unidos Podemos. PP is a right wing party that does the bidding for big $$$$$ interests.

The right-wingers of Partido Popular are in first place, but it is very doubtful that they will be able to obtain the 176 seats that are needed for an absolute legislative majority in the House of Deputies.

Only an alliance between Unidos Podemos and the PSOE will save Spain from a third possible election. Like in the United States, with the Democratic Party, PSOE has been a huge disappointment in Spain, and they have fallen to a very week third place.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Notice that these financial crisis, such
as the Brexit, always start in hyper-capitalist countries. Socialist
and communist countries rarely have such economic cataclysms, because
they do not have political and economic systems that
encourage screwing and exploiting the people. On the contrary, they
seek to help all the citizens of their country.

In 1789, when the French Revolution
took place, and the the heads of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were
placed under the guillotine, the ruling elites of the world took
notice. It would be a very long time, until 1917, that monarchical
heads would not roll again, until the Bolshevik Revolution in Czarist Russia.

What the world needs today are a few
more Robespierre's and Lenin's.

You could probably also say that what the British did today is the XXIst Century version of the guillotine. APPLAUSE!

AUSTIN — A notable Hispanic Republican says he's abandoning the party over Donald Trump, saying in a column published in the San Antonio Express-News on Tuesday that, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, he "can't defend the indefensible."

Washington
(CNN)House
Republicans sought to end an extraordinary day of drama and a 16-hour
sit-in by Democrats in the early hours of Thursday morning by
adjourning for a recess that will last through July 5.

Religion is the opium of the masses.

Karl Marx

Guns exist for the sole purpose of arming a 'well regulated militia' to protect the People.You have a right to go to McDonald's to buy their junk food. You do not have a right to buy a gun to harm people.

Monday, June 13, 2016

British labor historian Steve Cushion’s new book, “A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution,” reveals who propelled the victory of Cuba’s revolution along with insurgents led by Fidel Castro. While granting an assist from the “middle - class urban underground,” he argues that revolutionary struggle ended the way it did because of the “participation of militant organized labor.”

Out of Left Field: Trumbo Gets Oscar Nomination for Sympathetic Treatment of Communist

By Roger Harris, Counterpunch, January 15, 2016

Trumbo, a Hollywood movie with big name actors and cutting edge production values, portrays communists and by extension their principles in a sympathetic light. And now Bryan Cranston, playing the blacklisted Trumbo, got nominated for the best actor Oscar at the January 14th Academy Award announcements.

Democrats come off in the movie as cowards and quislings, while Republicans are mean-spirited corrupt bullies. Besides being somewhat historically accurate, Trumbo is a thoroughly engrossing entertainment experience with drama, intelligent dialogue, and flashes of humor. All that and without gratuitous sex and violence.

Six airlines won permission Friday to resume scheduled commercial air service from the U.S. to Cuba.The airlines — American, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest and Sun Country — were approved by the Department of Transportation for a total of 155 round-trip flights per week. They’ll fly from five U.S. cities to nine cities in Cuba other than Havana.Tampa was not approved for flights to Cuba.

Source: Assoicated PressJG: The fact that Cuban airlines cannot fly to the USA due to the continuation of the United Nations condemned blockade/embargo against the Caribbean island means that Cuba will continue to be FUCKED by USA capitalists.
I have had experience with only one of them, Jet Blue, and I found their services to be sub-standard. I will not use them if I decide to visit Cuba.Has anyone ever heard of Silver Airways and Sun Country? I wonder if they are cronies of Barack Obama.

Of course, you can waste your vote on one of the candidates of the minor alternative political parties.

When was the last time one of these was elected? NEVER! The ruling elites prevent them from participating in the few presidential candidates debates. You are a fool if you believe that the USA is a democracy.
I am staying home on November 8th. It is a waste of my time.

Full disclosure: I dislike both Trump and Hillary INTENSELY. I will not vote for either one in November.

The first is a Nazi racist and the second is (in Cuban slang) an unadulterated TORTILLERA, a very low-class lesbian. I can understand why Bill Clinton had to urgently go and get a blow job from Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.

There is a tremendous amount of hate and angry people in the USA today, like in the Germany of the 1930's. The krauts got Hitler and we get Trump. History will repeat itself.

Why is this happening? Because capitalist millionaires and billionaires have been fucking the American people since Reagan was installed in the White House, and the Yankees don't have the guts or the necessary intelligence needed to start assassinating the capitalist SCUM.

Monday, June 06, 2016

JG: What the New York Times does not tell its readers is, that in the USA in reality there is no democracy, because the nation has a duopoly, where two capitalist parties alternate in power every four or eight years, and they don't even allow minor parties to participate in the "election" debates.

With the US primary campaigns drawing to a close, the two parties of the US ruling elite, Democrats and Republicans, are preparing to nominate candidates who may be subject to criminal indictment between now and the general election.

Saturday, June 04, 2016

Editors' note: That fact that the Buena Vista Social Club has performed at the White House and President Obama has visited Cuba is not enough. Cuban officials are polite in the press release below. But the illegal and brutal US blockade remains in place. It will be up to US activists to force the pace of normalization and end the blockade.

------------Press release issued by the Cuban delegation to the Third Meeting of the Cuba-U.S. Bilateral Commission

16 May 2016

During the meeting, both delegations reviewed the implementation of the agreements adopted at the second meeting of this Commission as well as the results achieved in the course of the last six months

The third meeting of the Cuba-US Bilateral Commission was held in Havana on May 16, 2016.

The Cuban delegation was headed by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Director-General of the U.S. Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, and the U.S. delegation was headed by Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Counselor of the State Department, and John S. Creamer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

During the meeting, both delegations reviewed the implementation of the agreements adopted at the second meeting of this Commission as well as the results achieved in the course of the last six months.

Both delegations highlighted the increase of official visits in both directions, including the one paid by President Barack Obama to Havana in March, 2016; as well as of the technical meetings held to discuss topics of common interest and the bilateral instruments signed in order to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between Cuba and the United States.

However, similar advances have not been seen in the economic field because of the continued implementation of the blockade. Despite the steps that have been taken, there are still significant restrictions that limit U.S. exports; very few Cuban products can be imported by the United States; U.S. investments in Cuba are not allowed except in telecommunications; and there are no normal banking relations between both countries.

Therefore, the Cuban delegation insisted that the lifting of the blockade is a priority, because it continues to harm the Cuban people and Cuba's relations with third countries, and is also the main obstacle to the development of our economy. Likewise, the Cuban delegation reaffirmed the need for the territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base to be returned to Cuba, and called for the abrogation of other policies enacted in the past which stamped bilateral relations with a hostile character and are still in force.

Both delegations identified the steps they will be taking during the next months as part of the process towards the improvement of relations, namely, the materialisation of high level visits as well as technical exchanges on environmental protection, hydrography and law enforcement, which include the combat of trafficking in drugs and persons, and migration fraud. Both delegations expressed their intention to sign new agreements to cooperate in areas such as health, agriculture, meteorology, seismology, protected land areas, oil spill response, the combat of drug-trafficking and search and rescue operations, among others. They also agreed to initiate a dialogue on intellectual property and follow up on those dealing with climate change and the economic and commercial regulations in force in both countries.

The Cuban delegation reiterated the Cuban Government willingness to continue advancing during the next few months towards the construction of a new type of relationship between both countries, based on a professional and respectful dialogue, equality and reciprocity. Both delegations agreed to hold the fourth meeting of the Bilateral Commission in September, 2016, in Washington DC.

On Tuesday, May 17, the second meeting of the law enforcement dialogue between authorities from both countries will be held in Havana.

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